FILE PHOTO: Members of the Iranian revolutionary guard march during a parade to commemorate the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88), in Tehran, Iran, September 22, 2011 – REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Revolutionary Guards clash with Islamic State in western Iran

BEIRUT – 27 January 2018: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards clashed with Islamic State militants in the western part of the country on Saturday, according to Sepah News, the official news site of the Guards.

A team of 21 Islamic State fighters crossed Iran’s western border and were placed under surveillance before the Guards, the most powerful military force in the Islamic Republic, attacked them on Saturday morning, Sepah News reported.

Most of the militants have been arrested, the report said, but there was no mention of the number of people killed or wounded in the clash.

Last June, Islamic State attacked the Iranian parliament in Tehran and the mausoleum of the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, killing at least 18 and wounding dozens.

The attackers were all Iranian Kurds from the Kurdish region of western Iran near the Iraqi border.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards fired several missiles at Islamic State bases in Syria on June 18 in response to that attack.